


Better With You

by BansheeLydia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Family, Gen, Hale Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Gore, Minor Violence, Panic Attacks, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Hale Fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-18 01:12:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9357944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BansheeLydia/pseuds/BansheeLydia
Summary: For the prompt: “I’m better when I’m with you."





	

It hits her out of nowhere.

One second she’s in the middle of cooking eggs, and suddenly there’s this tight, horrible, icy feeling of dread clamping down on her. Her lungs won’t work and she knows, she knows she’s in the loft and Derek’s at class and Malia’s watching some dumb movie just a few feet away, when she looks she can _see_ Malia already crossing the room towards her, can feel the bright sunshine warming her skin from the open window, and yet she can also see Derek pinned to the floor by the metal through his gut, can feel the pain of being slammed into the ground.

She’s trembling, and her knees feel weak, and she can’t fucking _breathe_. And then there’s gentle hands on her shoulders and brown eyes in front of her own and Malia’s voice, telling her to breathe, in and out, in and out, in and –

The panic attack fades slowly, leaves her feeling empty, shaky. Weak. She hates it. It makes her feel small again, just like when she ran away from a burning home, just like when she was beaten and broken so easily by a werewolf too strong, stronger than she was. She’d trained and pushed and broken and mended herself to be stronger, to be able to fight, and still she’d been knocked aside so easily, had been forced to watch as her brother fought and failed and _hurt_.

She _hates_ it.

“Come on.” Malia says quietly. Her face is always more expressive than her words and right now, there’s understanding in her eyes as she leads Cora to the couch.

She sinks down onto it, raking her fingers through her hair as she mutters, “Something’s burning.” Her nose twitches at the smell of smoke, skin crawling. 

Malia’s already moved away and Cora watches as she switches off the stove and places the pan under the tap. She opens the large windows and even though the smell of smoke lingers, Cora can also smell the sweetness of the flowers Lydia had put out on the balcony, and it calms her.

Malia joins her again, just sits with her and doesn’t push or talk, and it’s exactly what Cora needs. She closes her eyes and leans her head on Malia’s shoulder, and just breaths.

-:-

She finds relationships difficult.

She struggles the most with Derek. They live together. He’s her guardian now and she knows how difficult it is for him to take on that responsibility. She’d fight and die for him. She’d defend him in a heartbeat. He’s her brother, he’s pack, he’s safe. And she knows he’d do the same for her. When he won’t – can’t – sleep, she always gets up to make hot chocolate and watch a dumb movie with him. When she wakes up with tears on her face, he’s always there to make her feel safe as she goes back to sleep. 

And yet.

And yet she doesn’t know how to be _family_. They’re siblings. They’re pack. But family is something she wants so badly to hold onto now she knows she has some left, but she doesn’t know how to build that relationship. They eat dinner in silence. Aside from fleeting moments of comfort, or a shared smile at a joke, or watching a movie together, they live their lives like they’re strangers. She doesn’t know how to just be.

Surprisingly, she’s struggled the least with Lydia. Something about that night, fighting together, daring to reach out and touch Lydia, comfort her, offer that olive branch, after that, being around Lydia was easier. _Friendship_ comes easier. It’s maybe not like the friendships she sees on TV, or the friendships she sees between the others, but it’s there. Lydia is…safety. 

Scott is understanding. He talks to her, and he’s kind, and he smiles warmly like he means it, but he never pushes, and Cora respects that. Stilinski talks a lot. He’s awkward and messy but he knows when not to talk and he understands, maybe more so than the others, when she feels like she can’t breathe, when something makes her flinch or clench her fists, and that’s okay. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to trust Allison and being around her causes this ache behind her ribs, but Allison never pushes either, so it’s not okay, but Cora can handle it. Isaac switches between trying to bond with her and avoiding her, and she doesn’t know why and she doesn’t know how to ask, so she deals with it.

Malia…

Malia is different.

They – the others, anyway – find Malia only months after Cora decides to settle in Beacon Hills permanently. Or, at least long enough to finish high school. Suddenly discovering she has a long lost cousin that she never even knew about so soon after finding out her brother is alive should have maybe been more of a shock, and yet it feels like nothing.

Peter knows, but he doesn’t come back, and Cora is grateful for that. Derek talks about reaching out to Malia, because she doesn’t have much family and neither do they. Derek offers that branch first and he doesn’t talk much about Malia, but from what Cora can tell, they seem to get along okay, kind of in a similar way to how the two of them get along.

Cora is wary. The others are, too, but their reasons don’t make much sense to Cora. Malia’s been coyote for so long and her social skills aren’t good, but Cora has been running since she was a child and hers aren’t good either. Malia is blunt and bold and sometimes cutting because of it, but she’s never _cruel_. She’s strong and she’s vulnerable, and the two of them are similar in so many ways, and different in so many more.

They click.

There’s this instant feeling of _oh. You get it. You get me_ and _this is family. This is pack._

And Cora finally starts to feel like she has a home.

-:-

“I hate this.”

“I know.”

“I feel so weak.”

Malia shrugs. “You’re not weak.” At Cora’s raised eyebrow, she says, “I caused the death of my mom and sister and spent years living as a coyote in the woods. Trust me, I get it. It doesn’t make you weak.”

Cora blows out a breath. “I should be stronger than this.”

“Most of your family burned to death when you were a child. You spent years running, only to be kidnapped and tortured by a pack of alphas, and _then_ you had to fight and watch your brother almost die.” Malia pointed out calmly. “I think you’re really fucking strong.”

She looks down at her hands. It doesn’t feel like it sometimes. Sometimes, when her hands tremble and she feels like nothing, she looks at Derek and envies him. He’s stronger. He handles it, he keeps going despite everything. Maybe bottling it up is better. It works for him.

“Besides,” Malia adds lightly. “At least you didn’t spend years eating live bunnies.”

Cora almost surprises herself with her snort and Malia grins back. This is why she copes better around Malia. They handle things the same way. She can’t joke about it, about their past, with Derek, and she understands that. But with Malia, she can just let go and _laugh_ and cope the way she needs to without judgement.

“I’m better when I’m with you,” she admits.

“That’s what family is for, right?” Malia says, then reaches out, squeezes Cora’s elbow gently as she adds, “I’m always here for you.”

For the first time in years, Cora feels something loosen in her chest, feels that itch to keep running lessen, and she smiles and simply breathes.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently accepting prompts at allirica.tumblr.com


End file.
